Headlights Off
by sterlingwriter
Summary: Post-Crisis Core, Turk-Centric. A mysterious attack sends Reno and Rude on a mission to discover the truth about what's happening to their organization. Also featuring: Tseng, Cissnei, & the BC Turks. In-Progress.
1. Midnight Mission

**A/N**: This story takes place a few days after Crisis Core ends.

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**Headlights Off**

**Chapter 1 – Midnight Mission  
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The alley was almost completely dark, except for one lone flickering street lamp at the intersection. A faint buzzing sound emitted from the bulb in the poorly maintained street lamp, echoing off the crumbling walls of the surrounding abandoned buildings; it probably had a loose connection, like most neglected wiring in this section of town. It was only a matter of time before the light burned out and Reno doubted that the city would bother to replace it. They were, after all, in the worst sector of town.

"Hey, Rude," Reno said, whispering. "Is your earpiece working?"

"Not real well. It's just a bunch of static tonight," Rude said, also keeping his voice low.

"Mine, too."

Despite the near darkness, Reno's eyes had adjusted over an hour ago, but he still couldn't see as well as he would have liked. He glanced over at Rude, and his partner instinctively looked back at him, nodded, then turned his attention back in the opposite direction. They'd only been working together a couple years, but it felt like they'd always been a team. When together, they had a certain synchronicity that couldn't quite be explained, but Reno was sure of one thing: he could always count on Rude to do the right thing at the right time. That was more than he could say about most of the other Turks.

Take Rod, for example. Not only was the guy a narcissistic prick, but he somehow managed to turn everything into a one-on-one competition, rather than working cohesively with the other Turks on his team. Rod had been a fairly notorious gang leader back before he was recruited, which technically, was a management position that should have taught the asshole a thing or two about working _with_ people rather than _against_them, but nothing seemed to help Rod grasp the fact that his co-workers were counting on him. In all fairness, Rod had largely been a one-man show who had been unfamiliar with failure previous to his Shinra employment, but even that fact couldn't quite fully explain his destructive, often criticized lone-wolf attitude toward the department and the tasks he was assigned; some missions just couldn't be done without a partner, but that didn't stop Rod from trying to do things all on his own.

As a result, Reno hated going on missions with Rod, but he had little say in the matter when it came to the decisions from upper management. A few instances had called for more than two Turks, so occasionally he'd been forced to work with him. The last time they'd ended up together, Rod had almost killed him, claiming that he'd mistaken Reno for an enemy.

Reno counted his lucky stars that the gunshot hadn't found its mark, or he'd most likely be swimming around in the overrated lifestream right now, taking a nice relaxing cave bath, instead of waiting for his next assignment. As peaceful as the text books made death sound, Reno was all for avoiding the big sleep for as long as possible, which meant that he would always have to be extra careful around Rod at all times. His instincts told him that Rod had been purposely messing with him that day, even though both Rude and Tseng insisted that he was being paranoid, but Reno couldn't be dissuaded from his beliefs. The fact that Tseng hadn't assigned them to the same case since, quietly confirmed his suspicions.

The others were almost as bad, having their own quirks and other various personality disorders, except for maybe Cissnei, but Reno had to admit that there were times when he'd wondered if she really was Turk material. Despite being the youngest recruited member of the Turks, where one would assume her performance would be damned near flawless due to her many years of training, she tended to flip-flop back and forth between being ruthlessly efficient and completely ineffective.

Reno wasn't sure exactly how that was possible, unless she was following her own moral compass, instead of following the one mandated by the company. No one ever seemed to hold her failures against her, and her successes were some of the most celebrated of the team. It didn't quite seem fair, since all of Reno's failures were often ridiculed out loud by the other Turks; no one ever dared to say a word out loud in front of Cissnei, as if they knew that speaking of her failures would condemn them to some kind of unspoken doom. He wasn't jealous, but he had noticed the difference in treatment and couldn't help but wonder why it had to be that way.

"Something's not right. We should've heard from him by now," Rude said, keeping his voice quiet.

"You think Tseng forgot about us?"

"We ain't _that_ lucky. Maybe the shit just ain't workin' tonight," Rude said, not sounding at all satisfied by his assessment.

"Guess I shouldn't smoke then," Reno said.

Rude didn't answer him, but Reno had learned that when Rude agreed with him, he was often met with silence. It was easier than actually speaking, and well, Rude didn't like to speak if he didn't have to, which was fine with Reno.

They were told that this mission involved stealth, secrecy, and patience, and even though they still didn't know what the actual objective was, they knew to be on high alert, watching for anything that could even remotely be considered suspicious. While they waited for their next order, it was imperative that they not draw any attention to themselves, which didn't seem like it was going to be an issue. From what Reno had been able to ascertain, there hadn't been anyone around for them to draw attention from; he'd been actively scanning the area since they'd settled into position, and hadn't seen much of anything with his predator-like ability to sense motion. So far, nothing but an alley cat and a ripped up piece of paper had moved since they had arrived.

"Ain't nobody here," Reno said, baiting his partner for permission to light one up.

"Not that you know of," Rude said.

"Dammit," Reno said, frustrated by all the waiting. "This is taking _forever_."

"Focus and be quiet," Rude said, effectively silencing him. "Somebody's comin'."

A car was approaching slowly on the road adjacent to the alley. Reno and Rude watched as the vehicle sidled up to the curb and stopped, the engine still idling with a dull rhythmic rumble. The car had been driving down the dimly lit street with its headlights off, which caused a suspicious red flag to wave in Reno's mind. Both Turks reacted together; Reno and Rude skirted off to the side, using the darkness to their advantage to hide behind a few rotting crates. Guns drawn, they waited, all senses on full alert.

Even with his near-perfect vision, Reno wasn't sure exactly what kind of car it was, but it did look like a newer Shinra FA model, from what he could see. FA's usually meant trouble, because they were the only vehicle type that Shinra had made that was able to easily custom fit bulletproof and magic-proof windows or siding with after market parts. The open cockpit designs of the other models were usually too impossible to modify in this manner, even for the handiest of mechanics. Only certain kinds of people had access to such a high-end model car: criminals, politicians, and high ranking company executives. Reno knew that one person could very easily cover all three bases, but he kept that thought to himself, opting to keep distractions to a minimum. He didn't need to say anything anyway. He was sure that Rude would be thinking exactly the same thing.

After a few breathtaking seconds, the car started moving again and turned into the alley, pausing again, as if deciding whether or not to traverse the alleyway. For the moment, still concealed, Reno crouched, waiting for the right moment to make a move. They weren't expecting anyone unannounced, so this _could_ just be civilian activity. Unfortunately, his gut told him otherwise, and his gut was rarely ever wrong.

Reno's ear piece began to crackle with the hiss of electronic static, and then a voice began to speak in audible tones. It was Tseng, and he wasn't messing around.

"Reno, Rude," Tseng said, "Abort mission and report to base. Repeat: Abort mission, _immediately_."

The Turks snapped their heads around at the same time, looking at each other with sudden realization and surprise. Reno found himself frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening. He knew that their situation had just escalated from unknown to bad, but he didn't know what to do about it. He heard tires squeal and realized the car was now barreling toward them down the alley at a rapid rate of speed.

"Hit the deck!" Rude said, pushing Reno to the ground.

Reno went down, painfully scraping his cheek against the concrete; he could feel the blood welling up on his soft, unprotected skin. As he began to recover from the shock of being forcibly shoved to the ground, he opened his mouth to unleash the nine hells upon Rude for not being more careful.

Before he could even say a word, a torrent of bullets sprung forth from the car driving past, shattering the crates granting them cover. As bullets pounded into the old brick building behind them, Reno could hear lead slugs ricocheting wildly off the metal foundation supports. Trapped under a hailstorm of exploding sharp wooden splinters and crumbling brick, he shifted, trying to lay as flush with the ground as he could, hoping his luck would keep him safe from the ricocheting bullets.

Rolling onto his back, Reno took aim and fired several shots from the ground at the passenger door window as the car passed by, but he was fairly certain he hadn't hit anything, or anyone. His action served its purpose though. The car increased its speed and kept going down the alleyway until it was out of sight. Reno stayed flat on the ground for a few more seconds, busying himself by reloading his gun, until the rearview lights of the car couldn't be seen anymore, before surveying the damage.

"You alright, partner?" Reno asked, rubbing his nose. The smell of burning rubber and lingering gunpowder smoke was overwhelming, and making his sinuses act up.

"Think so," Rude said, after a moment's hesitation. "You?"

"Yeah," Reno said, as he searched the ground for any evidence. He found a couple empty casings, and picked them up off the ground. Still warm, he quickly rolled them into his jacket pocket. "Couple nasty scrapes, no thanks to _you,_and a splinter or seven."

"You're welcome," Rude said, casually checking his sunglasses for damage.

"Bastard didn't even turn on his lights," Reno said, ignoring his partner's sarcastic retort, still caught up in what had happened. The alley was quieter now, and even though his ears were partially deafened, he could hear the faint non-stop buzz of the useless street lamp at the intersection. He pressed his palm over his left ear, as if he could massage away the echoing explosions still ringing in his ears. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Don't know. We better report in and get back to base so we can see what's goin' on." Rude tapped his ear piece and shook his head. "This static is drivin' me nuts tonight."

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**A/N**: To be continued... Thanks for reading. Please review! ^_^


	2. Standard Procedure

**A/N:** I haven't received much feedback on this story yet and am curious what people think. Let me know! ^_^

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**Headlights Off**

**Chapter 2 – Standard Procedure**

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As soon as Reno arrived back on base, he was immediately separated from Rude and taken into custody. He hadn't resisted arrest, mainly because he was so surprised, but also because he couldn't possibly fathom what he'd done wrong. Cuffed and dumbfounded, Reno kept asking questions, but wasn't getting any answers.

"What the hell is going on?" Reno shouted. "Somebody answer me!"

Things didn't make any sense, and no one was explaining anything. He'd not seen any of his superiors or any other Turks since he'd last seen Rude. His escorts had been a team of six mid-rank Shinra military troops, all of which kept their faces hidden. Reno heard a few of them speak; he paid close attention to the sound of their voices, just in case it became important to identify them later.

The room smelled like stale coffee, which instead of disgusting him, made him ravenously hungry. He hadn't eaten in hours, and he rubbed his stomach, willing it to calm down. Much to his dismay, his hunger wasn't the only problem plaguing him: his craving for a cigarette was starting to make him feel tense. Reno leaned against the security mirror, trying to ignore the knot forming in his neck, and stared intently at his reflection, trying to see through to the other side. He knew that it was no use; the glass was impossible to see through without bright light in the viewing room. But he continued to stare, hoping he was making eye contact with the person responsible for putting him in this damned interrogation room.

Reno was no stranger to his prison. It was inside these very walls that he had conducted his own questioning sessions; sometimes his partner helped by watching behind the glass, and other times Rude stayed in the room itself, standing menacingly by the door or hovering over the shoulder of their unfortunate captive. People tended to fess up quicker when they were afraid, so Reno did what he could to facilitate a little bit of the unknown during his interrogations. Although, things were very different now: he had become a prisoner on his own turf. He hoped he wasn't going to be on the receiving end of a classic Shinra-style interrogation. If things were done by the book, it wouldn't be so bad, but if not… Reno didn't want to think about the possibilities.

Time was passing slowly. The soldiers had stripped him of all of his tech gear and weapons, including his cell phone and ear piece, so he didn't have a very good idea of how long he'd been imprisoned. Trying to stay alert and awake, he alternated between watching the mirror, door, and security camera in the room, until finally, the door opened.

Tseng walked in, looking as calm as ever, carrying a couple folders, and a laptop bag. Impeccably groomed, Tseng wore his normal, no-nonsense expression on his face as though it were part of his uniform, and looked ready to get down to business. Hungry, tired, and frustrated, Reno fought to keep his composure intact. Even though he was upset that no one had bothered to explain any of this to him, he hated to admit how happy he had been to see Tseng enter the room. At least his interrogation would be fair; Tseng was definitely well known for following the rule book to the letter.

"Tseng," Reno said, sounding as pleasantly fake as possible, given the circumstances. "How _nice_ of you to finally drop in."

"Reno," Tseng said. "Please do not make this any more difficult than it has to be."

"Oh, sure. Wouldn't want to make this hard on _you _or anything."

Unaffected, Tseng walked over to the small metal table in the middle of the room and put his materials down. He gestured at the empty seat across from him.

"Please, sit."

Reno paused, eyeing Tseng for a moment before he complied. Even though Reno reliably obeyed orders, he still possessed a keen dislike of authority, especially when it was so one-sided. Observing that he had little choice, Reno sat down reluctantly, stretching his arms across the table, to make sure that Tseng had a good view of the handcuffs that bound him.

"These are a bit uncomfortable," Reno said.

Tseng reached into his pocket retrieved a small key ring, then tossed it across the table to Reno. He caught it easily, and flattened his wrists together so that he could unlock the restraints.

"And, I could use a smoke."

Tseng paused, and Reno watched him intently. Reno was aware that Tseng hated the fact that he smoked with a passion. Tseng was always advising him to quit, but since there were no official company rules against smoking as a personal habit, he couldn't enforce anything. Most of the floors in the Shinra building were strictly non-smoking, but the one he was on now was not. Letting prisoners light up often helped the Turks get the information they needed, and was a technique he often employed. Reno hoped Tseng would do the same, but wasn't going to hold his breath. It was worth a try.

Much to his surprise, Tseng reached into his jacket pocket again, and this time placed a crinkled, already-opened pack of cigarettes and a cheap plastic lighter on the table. Both were Reno's; they were amongst the items that had been confiscated upon being taken into custody.

"Use the ashtray," Tseng said, sliding them across the table.

"Certainly," Reno said, with a crooked smirk, taking the cigarettes and lighter almost as quickly as Tseng's hand had moved away. He didn't waste any time lighting one up, either. As he inhaled deeply, allowing himself to taste the spicy nicotine rush he'd been craving, he almost forgot where he was. Tseng's voice brought him back to reality.

"Try not to take offense. This is all standard procedure," Tseng said, his lip curling with mild disgust, which was an obvious reaction to the smoke swirling around the room. "We had to make sure that you were still loyal to the company."

"Had to make sure?" Reno said, echoing Tseng's words as he spoke. "What do you mean, '_had_ to make sure'?"

"We put you through some tests, including a SIT session…"

"What?" Reno said, his voice cracking. "I don't remember any of that."

"You wouldn't."

"I _know_," Reno said, annoyed that he'd not thought of the possibility of a SIT test sooner. Once injected with the SIT (standard induced truth) serum, a subject could be asked any question, and they'd answer it with complete honesty. As a side effect, the subject wouldn't be able to remember any details about the session, no matter how hard they tried. The test was thorough and virtually error free, if it was successful. The downside was, that the SIT session didn't work on everyone, so they still sometimes had to resort to traditional methods. He wasn't sure what made him feel more like an idiot, the fact that he didn't realize he had been administered a SIT test, or the fact that one had actually worked on him.

He rolled up his sleeves and looked at his arms, inspecting his veins, looking for evidence of the test. His brow furrowed when he saw the little tell-tale red dot on his arm, centered right on the crook of his elbow, on one of his most prominent veins. The fact that he'd been given the SIT injection meant that his interrogation was already over. While that pleased him on some level, knowing that he wasn't in for any torture, or long winded questioning, it also infuriated him. He was one of them: a Turk. How dare Tseng humiliate him like this?

"Who the hell ordered that? I want to see the tapes."

"I did, and you passed with flying colors," Tseng said, looking at Reno with a weary eye. "Stop acting so childish, Reno. I would not have ordered the session if I had not deemed it completely necessary. We have a serious matter on our hands, and Shinra needs your help."

"_Shinra_ needs my help, or _you_ do?"

"Both. Take a look at these files."

"Is this about the shooting last night?"

"Not exactly," Tseng said. "But it is probably related in some way."

Tseng slid a single manila folder across the table and opened the cover. Inside was a typical-looking report that was several pages long: more pages than Reno could count with his estimating eyeball, and definitely more pages than he wanted to _read_.

There were four photographs paper-clipped to the front page. The snapshots were much more interesting, and definitely didn't require as much time investment to understand. The first was a close up of a standard issue handgun, lying in a pool of fresh, wet-looking blood. The second, made his eyes widen with surprise.

"Holy shit! Is this Gun?" Reno said, picking up the second photo to study it closer. He was certain he was looking at a picture of a dead Turk: her bright blonde hair was stained and streaked with crimson gore, and she was lying face down in what appeared to be her own blood.

"Yes," Tseng said.

Some of the other Turks picked code names solely based on their weapon specialization, while others chose what they considered a snazzy code name, much like he had. Whether that code name was their real first name, or something completely made up, was anyone's guess. Unless a Turk told you the truth, you'd never actually know. While Reno didn't really understand why anyone would chose a name like "Gun", he knew, at least in her case, that it was probably the lesser of the two evils. She hadn't been very creative, lacking both artistic skills and a sense of humor, so naturally a rumor had emerged that her original code name choice had been so terrible, that Verdot, Tseng's predecessor, had actually started the new naming convention just for her.

Reno wished he had known what name she had originally picked, but he was as clueless on the matter as the rest of the Turks claimed to be. He hadn't known Gun very well, nor had anyone else he'd ever asked about it. It wasn't anything personal; Gun had just been completely unreachable on almost every social level imaginable. The only time she even seemed human, was when she would talk about her father and how proud of her he had been. Reno had tried a couple times to get her to laugh, but she'd been much too serious for him, even going as far as continuously asking him to stop bothering her, and telling him that his jokes were not funny. He respected her because she had been very good at her job, and so he eventually decided to leave her alone, even though it disappointed him that she'd never come around. He figured she was probably lonely all the time, and may have even liked it that way.

Surprising himself, Reno suddenly realized that he was going to miss her, but he knew that was nothing compared to how Gun's rookie sister was going to feel when she heard the news. From the rare interactions he'd seen, neither girl actually seemed to like each other, but he just figured they had some healthy sisterly competition going on. Losing a family member never seemed easy on anyone, no matter what sort of relationship hung in the balance.

"The rookie is gonna freak out-"

"_Elena_ has not been notified yet," Tseng said, interrupting Reno, and correcting him. "The trainees are isolated from the matter at this time. It is in our best interest to keep it that way. Understood?"

Reno nodded, turning his attention to the other two photos. Both were detail shots of the corpse and her wounds. It wasn't a pretty sight, despite the camera being a little out of focus. From what Reno could tell, Gun had been killed at close range, execution-style, with one bullet placed right between her eyes. The irony of being killed with her specialty weapon wasn't lost on Reno. Not only must that have sucked, but it was terribly humiliating. Someone knew a little bit more about her than they should have, and appeared to have some sort of grudge to have added insult to injury in this manner.

"Who could get close enough to execute a Turk like this?" He dropped the pictures on the table and rubbed his face with his hands, his exhaustion catching up to him.

"I think perhaps it could be another Turk, but I have no evidence to support a motive," Tseng said.

"What? That's... crazy," Reno said, his speech gradually slowing, as he thought about what Tseng had said.

Tseng had a point; a Turk definitely _could_ have done it, but that wasn't exactly the sort of thing he wanted to be true. Turks were supposed to have each others' backs; they were family. In fact, Reno often thought of most of his fellow Turks as the kind of family that he had never really had. His mouth felt dry and useless as he realized that Tseng could very well be right, but he couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it out loud.

"It is a real possibility, Reno. Do not dismiss the thought so quickly," Tseng said. "Have you heard anything odd or suspicious lately?"

"I don't think so," Reno said. Suddenly remembering that his partner was still a suspect, he changed the subject. "Where's Rude? Is he alright?"

"He is being prepped for questioning right now."

"Seriously, Tseng, there's no way he's behind anything like this. I'd know."

"Your faith in him is impressive. While I _am_ inclined to agree with you, we just cannot assume anything right now." Tseng handed Reno the file on Guns and the laptop bag. "If he clears-"

"He'll clear," Reno said, without hesitation.

"_When_ he clears," Tseng said, rephrasing. "The first thing you are both going to do is pursue this lead we have. Cissnei is missing. Although she is not the only one that is missing, her location is the most concrete lead that we have at this time."

"Missing? Since when?"

"She did not report in after specimen retrieval case 13-M78 was aborted. That makes her MIA for almost three days, which as you know, is a code red situation. She was spotted today by a security camera in Junon."

Specimen. What a nice way to talk about a human being. Tseng was, of course, speaking clinically about Zack Fair. It wasn't Reno's place to judge, but that thought didn't keep him from being keenly aware that Zack had been handed a raw deal. Thankfully that experimental bullshit was a different department altogether, and didn't have much to do with the Turks. Professor Hojo and his ilk gave him the creeps, so he was glad they usually kept a healthy distance apart.

Considering how badly mission 13-M78 had gone wrong, he figured that it was pretty obvious why they hadn't heard from Cissnei. She had been very close to Zack, closer than the other Turks, and may have even been a friend or lover. Rumors had always circulated around about them, even though it was commonly known that Zack had a girlfriend in sector seven. Reno didn't buy into the rumors; people just liked to talk. But if asked, he wouldn't deny that they had some sort of connection that went past the duties they performed for Shinra.

In the retrieval effort, somewhere along the chain of command, orders had been misheard or deliberately ignored. The Turks had been given the order to capture Zack Fair and his ward alive, and the military had been ordered to kill both on sight. The army had reached the targets first, and the rest was history: Zack Fair had been eliminated, and the subject he had been protecting was MIA. Truth was, their failure wasn't as embarrassing at it seemed at first glance; it had only been a matter of logistics. The military had been closer to Zack's location and that made all the difference in the end result. But the detail didn't matter. A failure was a failure. To make matters worse, most of the Turks knew Zack personally, and many of them, including Cissnei, probably felt like they'd let a friend down.

The guilt associated with such a circumstance was enough to break some people, and maybe even change their loyalties. Cissnei was still very young, not even into her twenties yet. So, it was possible that she didn't quite have enough maturity or life experience to handle situations like what had happened to Zack. Even Reno had trouble dealing with the heavy stuff sometimes, and he wasn't _that_ much older.

"Sounds like she might have cracked," Reno said, musing out loud, taking great care to make sure Tseng saw him snuff his cigarette out in the ashtray. "You don't think she killed Gun, do you?"

"Frankly, Reno, I don't know. She needs to be brought in for questioning. Guilty or not, we cannot have a rogue Turk who is not reporting in running around doing Gaia knows what. She is a danger not only to herself, but also to society, and the company."

Reno knew that Tseng had hit the nail on the head, despite his priority order being a little mixed up. Shinra cared about the company's interests first, and then everything else was a distant second. He picked up the folder with his assignment inside, and placed it into one of the inside pockets on the black leather laptop bag. Tseng stood up, and Reno did the same.

"Use this card to get the rest of your things from the security strong room," Tseng said, handing him a small plastic card. "Then go to your quarters and finish your report on the incident in the alley."

"Yes, sir," Reno said, taking the card with a slight bow, too mentally drained to be anything but respectful.

"This mission is extremely confidential. Do not discuss any details with anyone except those I authorize. To do otherwise, would be quite foolish and would likely put you in a compromised position. I am going to finalize the details on Cissnei's file, and I will send it to you once it is finished." Tseng paused, adding, "You might also want to head to the clinic to have your face repaired before it becomes infected."

Reno touched his cheek and winced, noticing that in addition to the pain, the area he'd scraped on the concrete the night before was slightly swollen. It had gotten a bit worse, but the injury wasn't anything the clinic couldn't fix up with a little bit of mako magic.

Both men left the interrogation room and started walking in opposite directions. Reno stopped, having had a last minute thought come to him.

"Tseng, wait. I almost forgot," Reno said. "Have Rude bring up some takeout when he's done in there. I'm starving to death."

Tseng nodded then turned his back on Reno almost immediately after he'd stopped speaking. Reno rarely ever got a noticeable rise out of Tseng, so he hadn't expected one now, but he could tell from the shadowy circles starting to form under his superior's eyes that Tseng was almost completely tapped out, if not already completely exhausted. Sometimes Reno could coax a good scolding or lecture out of his boss, but not today. Tseng was definitely too occupied to make the effort. As Reno watched him disappear into the next room a little bit further down the hall, he couldn't help but think about the incredible burden this case must be for Tseng. Like most of the previous lead Turks, Reno knew that Tseng had a lot of compassion for those who worked under him, even if he didn't show it very well. Having almost all of your subordinates disappear at once was more than concerning, it was downright troublesome. Tseng probably wouldn't rest easy until the situation was stabilized, and Reno had a hunch that neither would he.

Reno gathered his all of his willpower and forced himself to continue walking toward the strong room. Step by step, he overcame his intense urge to follow Tseng to the other interrogation room, to check on Rude. Despite his confident front, Reno was worried about his partner, as any good Turk would be. He only hoped that his instincts about Rude were right.

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**A/N**: To be continued... Thanks for reading. Please review! ^_^


	3. Unfortunate Suspects

**A/N:** Feedback is appreciated! ^_^

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**Headlights Off**

**Chapter 3 – Unfortunate Suspects**

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Reno didn't have to wait long. Tseng called him about an hour after he'd arrived in his dorm. He was now officially authorized him to discuss the mission with Rude, which hadn't been a real surprise; it was nice to have his gut feeling about his partner confirmed. He really needed someone to trust right now.

What _had _been a surprise, was the fact that Rude arrived at their dorm carrying a bag of fried chicken carryout, courtesy of Tseng. Reno had immediately taken the bag to inspect its contents. He found chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, and even a couple of fancy yeast dinner rolls. Rude took all four ears of corn, not bothering to put butter or salt on any of them. Reno had learned long ago that his partner had a taste for bland food, and Reno welcomed him to it. As usual, Rude took the stuff Reno didn't like, which worked out for the best, because he had other items to lay claim to: namely the bucket of salty, rich gravy right in front of him. He tossed a few pieces of chicken onto his plate, along with a healthy dollop of mashed potatoes, and a couple rolls before slathering his entire plate with gravy.

As he ate, Reno pretended not to notice the wary expression his partner wore, and carefully avoided eye-contact with Rude. To do otherwise, would mean a lecture for certain. Last time, he'd been subject to a long-winded and uncharacteristic lesson on cholesterol and heart attacks. So what, if he liked a little extra butter on his toast, or sugar topping on his ice cream? It's not like he was planning on making it to retirement age in his line of work, anyway.

"If you keep eating like that--"

"Damn, partner," Reno said, taking a drink of bubbly soda to clear his mouth of food. "I swear, you're turnin' into Tseng."

Rude didn't respond, and Reno smirked. If there was one thing Rude didn't like, it was being compared to their anal-retentive boss.

After devouring their food, despite being completely exhausted, Rude and Reno began to scour the reports and pictures that Tseng had given them. Reno mostly looked at the pictures, and left the boring stuff to Rude. It's not that he didn't like to read, he just didn't like to read Tseng's reports, which were some of the most clinical write-ups he'd ever seen in his life. Rude was usually able to decipher them, so Reno was more than happy to let him do so.

"I don't know what to make of it," Rude said.

"What do you mean?"

"Most of the Turks are considered enemies of Shinra," Rude said. "Tseng considers them defectors, and they are wanted criminals until brought in for questioning and cleared."

"We were on that list, I take it."

"Yeah, but not anymore," Rude said. "From what it says here, they think Rod hacked into the intelligence database, and got a hold of some kind of top secret information. Instead of returning to base, he shared it with the rest of the Turks, and now they're acting on their own initiative. According to the tally, Gun and Nai checked in, and were going to report back to base. Gun turned up dead, and Nai is still missing."

"He sure left _us_ out of the loop." Not that Reno would have expected the ex-gang leader to have informed them; he was painfully aware that their rivalry interfered with almost everything, from job performance to self preservation. But something about that report didn't make sense. Reno took a few calming breaths and thought about the inconsistencies.

Rod was well known for his street skills, but not so well known for his computer skills. Just two weeks ago, Rod's computer had locked up, and Reno had overheard him calling the corporate help desk for assistance. While he was on hold, Reno suggested simply rebooting the machine, and Rod gave him an earful about how it was "more complicated" than that. Sure enough, when he'd finally gotten a live agent on the phone, they'd told the stubborn Turk to reboot. Reno hadn't been able to resist saying, "I told you so" despite knowing better. Reno's unsolicited advice had earned him an icy stare, and stinky leftover lunch food in his personal trashcan.

"Wait, the computers would have been on lock down. Rod doesn't even know how to turn a computer on, much less _hack_ into one."

Rude shrugged. "I suppose. The information was transmitted to a location in Wall Market, your old haunt, and Rod's old base of operations. That's why he's a top suspect. That said though, the report isn't ruling anybody out just yet, except us."

"Tseng said we're going after Cissnei first. Why her? Does the report say?"

"It's because she's the only lead we have," Rude said. "And Tseng probably wants to question her himself. I'm sure you've noticed how tight-lipped he's been about shit ever since the whole Zack mess. Cissnei was pretty upset about things, according to Tseng. Rumor is, she found Zack before the Army did and let him go instead of bringing him in. The kid would probably still be alive if she'd stuck to her orders."

Reno could hear the distaste in Rude's tone, even though it was well disguised. His partner had very little tolerance for Turks who didn't follow orders. Ever since Reno had known him, Rude had followed procedures to the letter, although somehow he managed to do it without turning into a complete stick in the mud, like Tseng. Even knowing that, Rude was often privy to untold rumors. Those Reno couldn't charm out of people, Rude could usually get just by sitting around listening. Rude didn't talk much, and so people tended to forget he was there, which meant he often heard things that weren't actually meant for him to hear. He never ceased to be amazed at how much information could be gathered this way. For Reno personally though, this method was too time consuming, and frankly, too boring to even attempt. He'd leave the subtle stuff to Rude any day.

"Do you think any of this has to do with Tseng's promotion?"

"Why would it?" Rude said. "That was ages ago."

"Well, maybe someone wanted the job and thought they had a chance, since our last major mission was totally botched," Reno said. "Not that anyone's _qualified_ other than you or me."

Rude made a short harsh cough, a noise that was definitely an interrupted chuckle. "There ain't no way you're ever gonna run this department."

Reno feigned insult, and ended up making himself laugh. Rude was probably right, but it didn't hurt to try and imagine what things would be like if he ran the place.

"You know, I'd start by making some serious changes."

"Like what?"

"Like two hour lunch breaks, that's what," Reno said with a grin. "And less paperwork."

Rude shook his head, and went back to studying the report. Reno knew better than carry on too much, despite the fact that both of them needed a little bit more levity in their lives at the moment. The expression on his partner's face was one of concentration and seriousness. He was certain that Rude was searching for clues: for anything that might indicate that any of the other Turks might be on their side. Problem was, the report was thin, and information was scarce. No matter how many times he looked at the report, Reno was pretty sure it was a dead end. Kind of like the photos.

Reno forced himself to focus elsewhere, and picked up the photos again. He couldn't believe he was looking at pictures of a dead Turk. It was definitely Gun. Her unmistakable bright blond hair was soaked in blood, presumably her own, and her prized weapon lay to the side, soaked and unusable.

"They must have been quick to get these," Reno said, musing aloud. "Bodies can dissolve back into the lifestream pretty fast when they want to."

"Murders are slower, you know," Rude said.

"Yeah, but not _that_ much slower. We should ask Tseng who took these."

"Go ahead," Rude said. "I'm going to take a nap. Let me know if anything interesting happens."

Reno watched his partner disappear into the living room section of their dorm, and heard him make his imprint on the couch. He sighed, looking at the photos. Something was bothering him about them, but he couldn't quite place it. They just looked like normal murder scene evidence pictures, except… something wasn't right. He picked up his phone and dialed Tseng.

"Yo, Tseng," he said.

"Yes, Reno?"

"Listen, me and Rude have been going over the reports and I have a question about these pictures. You know, the ones of Guns. Who took them?"

"They were left at the scene," Tseng said. Reno knew that that was Tseng's indirect way of saying that he had no idea. "No fingerprints or any other identifying marks appeared on the initial scan of the photos. The body was gone when I arrived on the scene to investigate."

"Wait, how did you know where to investigate?"

"Gun didn't arrive back at base, despite reporting it as her intended destination. Everyone else was otherwise assigned, and so I went to check on her last known location. When I discovered the scene, I called off your mission and requested your immediate return to base."

"Do you think she was still loyal?"

"As far as I know," Tseng said. "But that is purely speculation."

"Have any of the other Turks passed their loyalty tests yet?"

"No one else is in custody," Tseng said, sounding like he was getting tired of their discussion. "Reno, you really should get some rest. Your orders will be issued early in the morning."

"Alright," Reno said, hanging up without saying goodbye.

He stared at his cell phone for awhile, letting the case information swirl around in his brain, as he tried to make sense of it. Turks not reporting in was serious; they were suffering an extreme lack of manpower at the moment. Not to mention, the pictures were downright suspicious. Presuming that the murderer had taken the photos, what kind of person leaves such graphic evidence behind? Someone who either likes attention, is proud of their work, or is trying to get caught. Reno took one last look at the photos before closing the file. Things were happening fast, and they really didn't have any time to waste. It was of the utmost importance that they find out what was going on, and as soon as possible.

Reno got up and peered around the corner, and Rude glanced up at him from the couch. Of course, his partner hadn't yet actually made it to sleep.

"Rude," Reno said, sounding thoughtful. "Tseng said he doesn't know who took the pictures."

"Figures," Rude said.

"You don't think..." Reno paused, not sure if he should speak his mind this time. "Ah, never mind."

"What?"

"You don't think the company is behind any of this, do you?"

Rude was silent for just long enough to cause a ripple of nervousness to run through Reno's stomach. After long last, he finally spoke.

"If so, we're screwed."

* * *

**A/N**: To be continued... Thanks for reading. Please review! ^_^


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